Take Take, v. t. [imp. {Took} (t[oo^]k); p. p. {Taken}
(t[=a]k'n); p. pr. & vb. n. {Taking}.] [Icel. taka; akin to
Sw. taga, Dan. tage, Goth. t[=e]kan to touch; of uncertain
origin.]
1. In an active sense; To lay hold of; to seize with the
hands, or otherwise; to grasp; to get into one's hold or
possession; to procure; to seize and carry away; to
convey. Hence, specifically:
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(a) To obtain possession of by force or artifice; to get
the custody or control of; to reduce into subjection
to one's power or will; to capture; to seize; to make
prisoner; as, to take an army, a city, or a ship;
also, to come upon or befall; to fasten on; to attack;
to seize; -- said of a disease, misfortune, or the
like.
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This man was taken of the Jews. --Acts xxiii.
27.
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Men in their loose, unguarded hours they take;
Not that themselves are wise, but others weak.
--Pope.
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They that come abroad after these showers are
commonly taken with sickness. --Bacon.
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There he blasts the tree and takes the cattle
And makes milch kine yield blood. --Shak.
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(b) To gain or secure the interest or affection of; to
captivate; to engage; to interest; to charm.
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Neither let her take thee with her eyelids.
--Prov. vi.
25.
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Cleombroutus was so taken with this prospect,
that he had no patience. --Wake.
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I know not why, but there was a something in
those half-seen features, -- a charm in the very
shadow that hung over their imagined beauty, --
which took me more than all the outshining
loveliness of her companions. --Moore.
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(c) To make selection of; to choose; also, to turn to; to
have recourse to; as, to take the road to the right.
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The violence of storming is the course which God
is forced to take for the destroying . . . of
sinners. --Hammond.
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(d) To employ; to use; to occupy; hence, to demand; to
require; as, it takes so much cloth to make a coat; it
takes five hours to get to Boston from New York by
car.
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This man always takes time . . . before he
passes his judgments. --I. Watts.
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(e) To form a likeness of; to copy; to delineate; to
picture; as, to take a picture of a person.
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Beauty alone could beauty take so right.
--Dryden.
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(f) To draw; to deduce; to derive. [R.]
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Let not a widow be taken into the number under
threescore. --1 Tim. v.
10.
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(b) To receive as something to be eaten or drunk; to
partake of; to swallow; as, to take food or wine.
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(c) Not to refuse or balk at; to undertakereadily; to
clear; as, to take a hedge or fence.
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(d) To bear withoutill humor or resentment; to submit to;
to tolerate; to endure; as, to take a joke; he will
take an affront from no man.
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(e) To admit, as, something presented to the mind; not to
dispute; to allow; to accept; to receive in thought;
to entertain in opinion; to understand; to interpret;
to regard or look upon; to consider; to suppose; as,
to take a thing for granted; this I take to be man's
motive; to take men for spies.
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[He] took that for virtue and affection which
was nothing but vice in a disguise. --South.
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You'd doubt his sex, and take him for a girl.
--Tate.
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(f) To accept the word or offer of; to receive and accept;
to bear; to submit to; to enter into agreement with;
-- used in general senses; as, to take a form or
shape.
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{To take down}.
(a) To reduce; to bring down, as from a high, or higher,
place; as, to take down a book; hence, to bring lower;
to depress; to abase or humble; as, to take down
pride, or the proud. ``I never attempted to be
impudent yet, that I was not taken down.''
--Goldsmith.
(b) To swallow; as, to take down a potion.
(c) To pull down; to pull to pieces; as, to take down a
house or a scaffold.
(d) To record; to write down; as, to take down a man's
words at the time he utters them.

{To take effect}, {To take fire}. See under {Effect}, and
{Fire}.

{To take ground to the right} or {To take ground to the left}
(Mil.), to extend the line to the right or left; to move,
as troops, to the right or left.

For now Troy's broad-wayed town
He shall take in. --Chapman.
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(g) To receive into the mind or understanding. ``Some
bright genius can take in a long train of
propositions.'' --I. Watts.
(h) To receive regularly, as a periodical work or
newspaper; to take. [Eng.]

{To take in hand}. See under {Hand}.

{To take in vain}, to employ or utter as in an oath. ``Thou
shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.''
--Ex. xx. 7.

{To take issue}. See under {Issue}.

{To take leave}. See {Leave}, n., 2.

{To take a newspaper}, {magazine}, or the like, to receive it
regularly, as on paying the price of subscription.

{To take one's own course}, to act one's pleasure; to pursue
the measures of one's own choice.

{To take order for}. See under {Order}.

{To take order with}, to check; to hinder; to repress. [Obs.]
--Bacon.

{To take orders}.
(a) To receive directions or commands.
(b) (Eccl.) To enter some grade of the ministry. See
{Order}, n., 10.

{To take out}.
(a) To remove from within a place; to separate; to deduct.
(b) To draw out; to remove; to clear or cleanse from; as,
to take out a stain or spot from cloth.
(c) To produce for one's self; as, to take out a patent.

{To take up}.
(a) To lift; to raise. --Hood.
(b) To buy or borrow; as, to take up goods to a large
amount; to take up money at the bank.
(c) To begin; as, to take up a lamentation. --Ezek. xix.
1.
(d) To gather together; to bind up; to fasten or to
replace; as, to take up raveled stitches; specifically
(Surg.), to fasten with a ligature.
(e) To engross; to employ; to occupy or fill; as, to take
up the time; to take up a great deal of room.
(f) To take permanently. ``Arnobius asserts that men of
the finest parts . . . took up their rest in the
Christianreligion.'' --Addison.
(g) To seize; to catch; to arrest; as, to take up a thief;
to take up vagabonds.
(h) To admit; to believe; to receive. [Obs.]
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The ancients took up experiments upon credit.
--Bacon.
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(i) To answer by reproof; to reprimand; to berate.
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Soon as the evening shades prevail,
The moon takes up the wondrous tale. --Addison.
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(l) To assume; to adopt as one's own; to carry on or
manage; as, to take up the quarrels of our neighbors;
to take up current opinions. ``They take up our old
trade of conquering.'' --Dryden.
(m) To comprise; to include. ``The noble poem of Palemon
and Arcite . . . takes up seven years.'' --Dryden.
(n) To receive, accept, or adopt for the purpose of
assisting; to espouse the cause of; to favor. --Ps.
xxvii. 10.
(o) To collect; to exact, as a tax; to levy; as, to take
up a contribution. ``Take up commodities upon our
bills.'' --Shak.
(p) To pay and receive; as, to take up a note at the bank.
(q) (Mach.) To remove, as by an adjustment of parts; as,
to take up lost motion, as in a bearing; also, to make
tight, as by winding, or drawing; as, to take up slack
thread in sewing.
(r) To make up; to compose; to settle; as, to take up a
quarrel. [Obs.] --Shak.